The present invention relates to a method, system and recording medium for installing software in a computer which can be suitably used to promote sale and distribution of the software product.
Generally, for installing desired software in a computer or the like, a user first acquires a group of files necessary for the installation, e.g., from a CD-ROM or other recording medium, or Internet home page. Then, the user runs, on a particular computer into which the software is to be installed, a predetermined setup program (e.g., xe2x80x9cSetup.exexe2x80x9d) contained in the acquired group of files.
In many of such setup programs, users are usually asked to enter into a xe2x80x9clicensing agreementxe2x80x9d prior to the installation of the desired software. FIG. 3 is a flow chart explanatory of a specific example of the conventional setup program used for such a purpose. At first step SP101 of FIG. 3, a predetermined initial setting process is carried out. Then, at step SP102, a predetermined screen for a licensing agreement concerning the software to be installed (hereinafter also called xe2x80x9cnew softwarexe2x80x9d) is caused to show up on a computer display. In this licensing agreement screen are displayed detailed contents of the licensing agreement and two buttons labeled xe2x80x9cAgreexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cNot Agreexe2x80x9d.
At next step SP103, the setup routine waits until one of the xe2x80x9cAgreexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cNot Agreexe2x80x9d buttons is depressed or activated by the user. If the user has activated the xe2x80x9cAgreexe2x80x9d button, the setup routine proceeds to step SP104 to execute the installation of the software, but if the user has activated the xe2x80x9cNot Agreexe2x80x9d button, then the installation of the software is not executed or canceled.
However, with the above-described conventional technique, the new software sometimes fails to be installed properly despite the user""s activation of the xe2x80x9cAgreexe2x80x9d button to enter into the licensing agreement. Such a failure of the software installation would occur in situations where 1) the storage device of the computer, into which the new software is to be installed, does not have an enough empty storage space for the new software, 2) the type or version of the operating system currently installed in the computer does not properly fit the new software, 3) there is already installed, in the computer, other software with which the new software can not coexist, 4) other software necessary for operation of the new software is not installed in the computer, 5) the new software can not operate appropriately due to some bug in the setup program or in already-installed other software, and so on.
In the event of such an installation failure, the setup program usually displays an error message and then terminates the routine. Further, the setup program would also sometimes come to an abnormal end due to various other unpredictable reasons. In such cases, the user can not use the software in spite of having entered into the licensing agreement, which is very unreasonable.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a software-installing method, recording medium and system or device which allow every user, having entered into a licensing agreement, to actually use the software with a maximized possibility of success.
In order to accomplish the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a method of installing software in a computer, which comprises the steps of: writing the software into a storage device of the computer; displaying contents of an agreement concerning the software after the step of writing; receiving a user""s selection as to whether or not to agree to the contents of the agreement; and deleting the software written in the storage device, when the user has not agreed to the contents of the agreement.
For installation of given software in accordance with the present invention, the software to be installed is first written into the storage device, and then a user""s selection is received which indicates whether or not the user agrees to contents of an agreement concerning the software. The present invention is substantially different from the conventionally known techniques in the order of the installation procedures. Namely, the software, once written in the storage device, would be undesirably left stored in the storage device even when the user has not agreed to the contents of the agreement. To avoid such an inconvenience, the present invention has improved the installation procedures such that the software written in the storage device is compulsorily deleted from the storage device when the user has not agreed to the contents of the agreement. When, on the other hand, the user has indicated his or her intention, i.e., made a selection, to agree to the contents of the agreement, the software written in the storage device is maintained as it is, and in this way, the installation of the software can be completed. Thus, whenever the user indicates his or her intention to agree to the contents of the agreement, the software has already been properly installed in the storage device (except in very rare cases), so that the user is allowed to make use of the software with a maximized probability of success without being deceived in his or her expectations.
In one implementation, the step of writing, the step of displaying, the step of receiving and the step of deleting may be executed sequentially by the computer in accordance with a predetermined setup program.
In another implementation, the step of writing the software may be executed by the computer in accordance with a predetermined setup program, and the step of displaying, the step of receiving and the step of deleting may be executed by the computer running the software written in the storage device. As still another example, the method of the present invention may further comprise a step of, after the step of writing, waiting until the software written in the storage device is started up, and the step of displaying, the step of receiving and the step of deleting may be executed in accordance with instructions from the software thus started up. In yet another implementation, the method of the present invention may further comprise a step of, after the step of writing, automatically starting up the software written in the storage device, and the step of displaying, the step of receiving and the step of deleting may be executed in accordance with instructions from the software thus started up. In each of these examples, the confirmatory display of the contents of the agreement and determination of the user""s selection to agree or to not agree to the displayed contents of the agreement are performed only after ascertaining that the software written in the storage device can be actually started up on the computer. Thus, each of these examples achieves highly reliable and user-friendly installation procedures.
In yet another implementation, a non-completely-operable version of the software, obtained by changing part of a completely-operable version of the software to be installed, may be stored in the storage device, and, only when the user""s selection has been made to agree to the contents of the agreement, the changed part of the non-completely-operable version may be restored back to its original or pre-change condition so that the completely-operable version of the software is preserved in the storage device for use after the user""s selection to agree to the contents of the agreement.
In still another implementation, a non-completely-operable version of the software, obtained by changing part of a completely-operable version of the software to be installed, may be stored in the storage device, and when the user""s selection has been made to not agree to the contents of the agreement, the software with the changed part (i.e., the partly-changed software) may be executed as it is. In this case, this partly-changed software will be executed as a sort of demonstration of how it works, which can be expected to effectively attract consumers"" interest in the software.
The present invention may be implemented not only as the method of installing software as set forth above, but also as a computer system capable of installing software through novel installation procedures. The present invention may also be practiced as a program for execution by a processor such as a CPU and a DSP, as well as a recording medium storing such a program.